Final slideshows

visitors

Guess who thought about their costume before 5:45 pm today??? Sweet Avery and her bff, Abbi, have been planning to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Cat in the Hat for months- the rest of us, not so much. I ran Issy and Hill to the Halloween superstore at 5:45- after soccer and football games. Good times. If you haven't been to Halloween Mart on the actual day of Halloween, you have missed nothing, let me assure you. Slim pickings.

(How I love this child and at 10 she is far more organized than I will ever be!!!)

Hill found some bling for he and Wick and Issy, found nada. She ended up with a shirt that said "ISA" and carried a bell. Isabelle. :) Did you read we didn't start until 45 minutes before our party? I still didn't have anything for Abe, but thankfully Marylynn pulled through for me with a darling bear costume. He looked precious don't you think?

We kept saying, "2 weeks from today, we will be home with Eyasu!!!!" Wow.

Hope you all had a fun night!

Rainey is ready to go first thing tomorrow morning! I know she will do awesome.

Moody and I had one hot date last night! It included our sweet baby Abe and a nursing home, but with many kids, you take what you can get! :)

Abe has qualified for a program that will allow us to have some respite care and support paying for therapies, equipment, etc. It is a HUGE blessing. We have paid out of pocket for everything so far-- gotta love insurance. :)

The interesting thing about qualifying for this program is that you need to stay in a nursing home for 30 days, though it can be reduced to 24 hours if your Dr. writes a reason for a shorter stay. So Moody, Abey and I drove to Granbury yesterday afternoon, hunkered down in our room and were discharged at 12:05 am. Technically we admitted one day and were discharged the next! We were happy to jump through whatever hoops we needed to in order to qualify for this program. It will be a big relief to us! We are so grateful to the Lord for His provision. :)

Really lovely-- had difficult time with iphone self-portrait. Abe was loving this date.

All 3 of us cozy on our very small bed!

UPDATE ON RACE-- $720 have been raised for Rainey's race on Sunday. AMAZING!!! That is $55. 38 per mile!! Oh, AND WE LEAVE IN 9 DAYS- YAHOO!!!!

"I will never forget training for my 1st marathon. I was in Africa that summer and got to run all of South Africa which was a dream. I ran 2 days a week in the townships and it struck me so deeply that here in America it is a luxury to run. We run because we have so much excess we run to lose weight. In South Africa people walk 5-6 miles a day just so they can work or go to school, some just to put food on the table for for clean water. It was a humbling contrast for me."

She contacted me with the idea to have people donate money per mile for a race next year....then she said "Here is the crazy part.....instead of waiting until next year I thought maybe it would work this year. Stranger things have happened. If you write in your blog and ask people to send an email committing to donate per mile or lump sum, then you can tell me how many people are committed, ad a link where they can donate, and I will have to finish this year (which let me tell you might kill me)"

I love this girl and her heart for Africa. She is one of my friends that just gets it, she gets that much of my own heart resides there and I know that about her as well!

So here is the deal....the economy stinks, you guys give to SO many great causes and she is running in less than 1 week, but we decided to put up the link for the well Moody's office is building (read post here) with charity:water. The awesome thing about this organization is that 100% of your donation goes to providing clean water!! She told me today that if someone donates any amount of money, that is better than running for nothing. She is getting a shirt made to run in to remind her when the legs start to burn and her heart is pumping, that there are those in Africa without access to clean drinking water and their legs burn and hearts pump just making the long trek to the water hole.

If you want to donate to Rainey's run- go HERE. It is the well that Moody is matching a dollar per wooden nickle received by his patients. This money raised will be over and above that and will just allow charity:water to continue to provide clean drinking water to more people. Be sure and donate on the specific project page and not the main charity:water page.

I'm so inspired by those making a difference in each and every way that they can! Go Rainey Go. We will be cheering you on each and every mile. You can do it.

(This was orginally posted on July 23rd, 2008. It was the day before Abe's court date. He passed the next day and legally became our son. Praying that a judge in Ethiopia legally declares our little guy an Alexander tomorrow!!)

We love our agency, Gladney, for many reasons. One is that they make a huge impact in the lives of orphans- not just in those going to their forever homes. They clearly understand that less than 1% of all orpans will be adopted. Staggering statistic and so thankful that they are committed to helping better the lives all orphans.

One way you can make a difference is to help support this wonderful organization.

The Gladney Center for Adoption and numerous Gladney Family Associations around the country have launched a new Humanitarian Aid Initiative – the On Their Own Project.Participants may purchase a beautiful bracelet by visiting the initiative’s website at www.ontheirown.org. Proceeds will be used for the Own Their Own project, which provides meaningful, marketable job and life-skills training for orphaned and foster care teens in the U.S., Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. The ultimate goal is to prepare these teens for life ON THEIR OWN as self-sufficient, safe young adults.

When you purchase and wear a beautiful ON THEIR OWN bracelet, you are acknowledging your commitment to lend them a hand. Please join us in this effort and visit On Their Own today!

We are praying that in a few days, our little guy will legally be ours and there will be 1 less orphan in the world!!

Though you have not seen him, you love him.Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

1 Peter 1:8

Choosing joy over here at Team Alexander in light of another delay in courts. Joy is just better than bitterness huh?? So by God's grace, we will wait on Him to reveal His perfect timing to bring home our son. *****UPDATE- just got a call and our new court date is October 21st!! Yahoo! *****

Well the creator of this beautiful painting didn't want credit at the time, but I have found a way to introduce her to you. She is a finalist in an Aaron Bros contest. Below are the instructions to vote for her! Her painting is clearly the best. :) I would really appreciate you voting for her!

We had a blast with our friends and Bono is just the definition of cool - more on that later once I get pics.

Upside of adoption- watching our dear friends Pam and Steve as they were introduced to their new, beautiful 5 year old daughter. Yes, they got their referral at our house!! What joy.

Downside- WAITING. Found out today that our case that we thought was left open during the closure has been closed. We now have to WAIT for a new court date. Yes, we wait some more. So heartbroken for my sweet boy. So ready to have him home, but we now wait.